FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT NATIONAL RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION - PAGE 5

Shake things up with Benihana's Sake Mojito Meet the Benihana Sake Mojito, a tropical favorite with Japanese flair. Japanese sake adds a kick to the sweet rum and refreshing citrus and mint flavors of the popular mojito, creating an exotic thirst quencher. Benihana, with restaurants in Miramar and Lauderdale-by-the-Sea (under renovation), is known for bringing Japanese cuisine to mainstream America, with performing chefs preparing meals for guests at teppanyaki tables. Benihana invites you to delight your dinner guests with this at-home version of their Sake Mojito: Gently squeeze 4 to 6 limes wedges into a mixing glass.

Restaurant sales are on a roll -- a very sweet roll indeed. With so many men and women working, the National Restaurant Association expects restaurant food sales to set a new record this year of $112.3 billion. About half of that total will be spent for dinners, one-third for lunches and the rest evenly divided between breakfasts and snacks. Each adult is expected to spend an average of $12.30 a week on food away from home. Restaurant food sales have set new records every year for the past 10 years, increasing at an average annual rate of 20 percent.

A new survey of American eating habits says people all over the country are purchasing elaborate ready-made dishes, having food delivered and grazing instead of eating three square meals a day. It also shows that trends that began on the East and West coasts are moving inland even as they are losing favor where they began. The telephone poll of 2,000 men and women was conducted in March by the Gallup Organization for the National Restaurant Association. Based on the demographics and preferences of respondents, the association`s research department has drawn conclusions.

By TRACY KOLODY Business Writer and Information from The Wall Street Journal was used to supplement this report, February 14, 1995

If you've made travel reservations and want last-minute changes, it's likely to cost you to switch. On Monday, the travel industry's last bastion of free customer cancellation policies began to crumble. National Car Rental System announced it will begin to charge customers a fee for not honoring reservations. National is planning to offer a new level of discounts in Florida this spring. But just like many airlines, National will require travelers to reserve - and pay for - cars 14 days in advance and agree to a cancellation fee ranging from $25 to the entire price of the rental in order to get the bargain rates.

Balancing a toddler on her hip, shopper Joanne Labaton eyed her choices hungrily: Lobster pot pie. Microwaveable shitake mushrooms. Key Lime Mojo on the go. Like several other upscale restaurants across South Florida, Chef Allen's has started a takeout business, Allen's 2Go. Labaton settled on black beans and rice and a serving of vegetable terrine. "It saves a lot of time," said Labaton, 35, of Aventura. "It's not the type of thing that you buy five nights a week. But it's great when you can."

Before they had children, Anne and Joel Beerman went out to dinner a lot. "A lot," emphasized Beerman, an Atlanta lawyer. "We went to inexpensive seafood restaurants, ethnic restaurants." Now every Thursday evening, while his wife attends an exercise class, Beerman goes out for a meal with his son, Will, 9 years old, and daughter, Ellie, 4. They go to much the same kind of place that Beerman liked 10 years ago. More and more, parents such as Beerman are taking their children with them when they dine out. According to a nationwide survey of 10,000 families of all income levels that was taken for the National Restaurant Association, the number of children under age 6 patronizing better restaurants rose 43 percent between 1982 and 1986, far faster than the overall increase of 10 percent.

A pair of experienced South Florida restaurateurs are hard at work creating Fort Lauderdale beach's newest eatery, resolving to have everything in place in time to ring in the new year. Darrel Broek and Oliver Saucy, the team that has operated the well-known Cafe Maxx in Pompano Beach for the past decade, are bringing their combined skills south to create a format at the East City Grill. The new restaurant is adjacent to the Riviera Ocean Resort, a small hotel on North Atlantic Avenue.

Several months ago, I wrote about wanting to make a trip to New York City to see "South Pacific." The revival of the play evoked wonderful memories for me. It was one of the first Broadway shows I had ever seen and it began my lifelong love for the theater. A couple of weeks ago, my desire was fulfilled as I sat in the Vivian Beaumont Theatre at Lincoln Center and listened to the orchestra play the first strains of "Some Enchanted Evening." The show was all I hoped it would be. My husband, and the friends who were with us, felt as I did. Tears filled our eyes, first when Nurse Nellie Forbush and her French planter fiancM-i, Emile de Becque, parted and then when they reunited.

Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino is best known for a quick-release passing technique that has helped the team to one of its best starts in years. But beginning next month, Marino`s name also may become synonymous with a fast-paced sports-themed restaurant and bar under construction at the CocoWalk shopping and entertainment complex in Coconut Grove. Carrying a price tag of $1.5 million, Dan Marino`s American Sports Bar & Grill, billed as a "theme park restaurant," promises to answer every sports fan`s dream of entering a Disneyesque world of sports broadcasts, memorabilia and celebrities.

CHICAGO -- Forget the strolling mariachis, the tableside waterfalls and the belly dancers. The fascination in the restaurant industry these days is food -- preferably fresh and homemade on the premises. "Ten years ago, atmosphere was No. 1 when you talked about the most important thing about eating out, and quality of the food was way down on the list," said Michael Grisanti, incoming president of the National Restaurant Association. "Today, food is very clearly the No. 1 criteria and atmosphere has gone down to No. 4 or 5."